KEY CONCEPTS FROM THE THREE ‘ROOTS’ OF COUNSELLING: HUMANISTIC, COGNITIVE BEHAVIOURAL, PSYCHODYNAMIC.
Humanistic Approach or Person Centred Counselling.
The Humanistic Approach emerged as a reaction to Psychodynamic and Cognitive Behavioural Therapies in the 1950’s. It is often referred to as the ‘third force’ in psychology as it came after Psychoanalysis and Behaviourism. The two major names associated with this approach are Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow. Carl Rogers maintained that an individual could recognise their strengths and be able to self-direct or self-heal in therapy while recognising self growth, responsibility and autonomy. Abraham Maslow developed his theory evaluating healthy individuals and recognising that when someone’s needs are met in the correct order it allows them self actualisation thus being a fully able person.
Carl Rogers expanded on this theory as he felt that in addition to Abraham Maslow’s hierarchical needs, in order for the person to fully develop they needed to be in a genuine environment where they could open up and feel unconditionally accepted and understood to fully realize their potential. This environment would provide them with core conditions:-
Congruence: - being transparent or genuine within the Person centered relationship this shows the client that the counsellor accepts them on an equal stance and there is no pretence, enabling openness thus allowing the client a deeper insight into themselves as the counsellor will never attempt to deceive the client but will bring their perceptions of their behaviour into the open and be able to discuss it supportively.
Unconditional Positive Regard: - meaning the counsellor accepts the client unconditionally and non-judgementally...
... middle of paper ...
...he pleasure principle it does not care about reality or the needs of others only its own satisfaction and desires. As we grow and interact with the world the second part of our personality grows and is known by the ego this is the anal stage of development. The ego is based on reality and recognizes that others have needs and being impulsive can hurt us in the long run. It’s the egos job to meet the needs of the id whilst also taking into consideration the reality of the situation and not give in to all the id desires. As we grow older our ego is developed and shaped by influences in our environment. At the end of the phallic stage of development the super-ego develops, this is the moral part of us and develops through right and wrong restraints shown to us by our caregivers or parents. This part is responsible for criticisms and moralizing in our lives.
Freud’s two stages for the ego’s development are the internal and external ego. At first humans start off as the id. The id operates on what it wants and is not self-aware, so if it wants the breast, it will scream until it gets it. The first stage of the ego is self-awareness, but it only recognizes its own wants. The next stage of the ego is the separation between what is ours and what is not, and develops in the toddler years. At first the toddler operates on the pleasure principle, and the ego allows the child to obtain anything that gives him pleasure. The reality principle, however, interferes with the pleasure principle because it makes the ego realize that he cannot always get what pleasures him all the time.
The humanistic perspective on personality deals exclusively with human behavior. Humanistic psychologists believe that human nature includes a natural drive towards personal growth, that humans have the freedom to choose what they do regardless of environmental factors, and humans are mostly conscious beings and are not controlled by unconscious needs and conflicts. They also believe that a person's subjective view of the world is more important than objective reality. Two of the humanistic theorists that have made an impact of humanism are Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow.
Humanistic Theory is based on the ability for individuals to be able to separately diverse with our own prospective on life. Maslow’s theory speaks to the potential and to positive outcome of human motivation and believes that every individual can and will strives to be more.
Humanistic psychology relies on client centred therapy and the idea that each individual has the potential to achieve a position in their psyche named self actualisation. Humanistic psychology differs from psychodynamic theory in that it is optimistic about the human psyche and does not view conflict as inevitable. Humanistic psychology assumes people attach meaning to their unique perspectives on the world and that behaviour is strongly influenced by this. Carl Rogers defined the healthy personality as being one that had congruence between the perceived self and the experienced self and that the individual in question experienced unconditional positive regard from their parent or guardian. He defined an unhealthy personality as being one which lacked these components. Abraham Maslow alternatively suggested a hierarchy for which a person’s healthy personality could be measured by stages of psychological and physical needs (see diagram 2). He suggested that, for a person to achieve self actualisation and become a fully functioning person, they must first satisfy all the needs of each level in the pyramid before moving onto the next
The counselling process is one that may last for as little as one session or for years, it is within the middles stages of the helping relationship that particular counselling skills such as a focusing, challenging and immediacy can be implemented, as well as use of advanced empathy that can be applied due to increased familiarity with a speaker. Many actions may occur within middles stage of the helping relationship such as transitions that occur for a multitude of reasons and the outcome of which can vary based on the attitude of the speaker. Self-awareness remains vital throughout the entire counselling relationship due to the continual influence of empathy in the helping relationship and remaining aware my own motives and values when using advanced empathy and specific counselling skills. Ethics and boundaries are also involved within the counselling process as within a counselling relationship, I as the counsellor, must be careful with the balance or expenditure of power when challenging.
The counseling session began with the introductions where I introduced myself as the counselor and later introduced my client. This stage is important in any counseling session since it is the time of exploration and focusing according to Gerard Egan as quoted by Wright (1998) in his essay on couselling skills. It is in this session that I was able to establish rapport and trust with my client in order to come up with a working and fruitful relationship with him. During this stage I made use of skills like questioning, where I would pose a question directly to my client, sometimes I would choose to just listen to what the client wanted to speak out while in some instances I would be forced to paraphrase the question if I felt the client did not understand the question I had asked previously. There were also other times when I would reflect through silence. During such a period, I got time to study the client and the information he had given. This being a difficult area, since some clients may not be able to volunteer information to you as the counselor, I decided to assure the client of confidentiality of any information he was willing to share with me with a few exceptions which I also told him about. Being open to him about the only times the information may not be confidential was part of my building rapport and establishing trust with him. I therefore, decided to ask the client what information he wanted to share with me and lucky enough he was ready to speak to me about different issues that he was going through.
...roblems. On the other hand, the humanistic approach, introduced by Abraham Maslow, states that individuals have the freedom and capacity to direct his or her own future. Although it is a theory, it is apparant that the psychoanalytic approach is accepted in our society through observations of our speech and procedures of our criminal justice system. As a result, it is conclusive that it is more instrumental in the treatment of mental disorders.
Similarly, Maslow's theory also reflects that humans have an internal force to reach their highest potential (Maslow, 1968). Maslow examined the hierarchy of basic human needs and developed a pyramid of requirements which motivates human beings and shapes their personality. At the bottom of his pyramid are found the basic physiological motivations which are necessary for survival such as food and shelter. The next level incorporates the need for safety, both physical and psychological. This is followed by love and belongingness which relate to receiving and giving affection. Presuming the love need is met, the next level up is the need for esteem which includes the feeling of self-esteem and self-respect. At the top of the pyramid stands the complex need for self-actualization which is a meta-need as per Maslow (1964) and we can reach it through peak experiences. It is the highest level of growth when someone reached her or his capacity to the fullest. Maslow estimated that only 1 percent of people ever really fulfil this need (Maslow,
In this part of the assignment, I will be reviewing the strengths and weaknesses that were shown when I was using counselling skills on my client. I believe that there were more strengths when I was showing counselling skills compared to the weaknesses that there were.
Abraham Maslow adopted the theory, and it was focused on discussing the development of professional organizations that are devoted to a more humanistic psychology. There are important topics that dominate the theory such as creativity, self-actualization and individuality as central themes to the theory. Humanistic approach is paramount and has played a critical role in ensuring understanding and new ways of thinking concerning mental
Humanistic counselling came about when psychologists and therapists desired a different insight into psychology and therapy than the ways of behavioural or psychoanalytic psychology and thus it became known as the ‘third force’ in psychology.
Self-actualization is an idea originating from the Humanistic psychological theory and particularly created by Abraham Maslow. The humanistic school of thought in psychology is the third force in psychology that attempts to regain the self, supporting that individuals do have free will and has the power to change for the better. Humanistic psychology was developed as a response to psychoanalysis and behaviorism focusing on individuality, personal growth and the concept of self-actualization. While early schools of thought were mostly concentrated on abnormal human behavior, humanistic psychology is different because of its emphasis on helping individuals achieve and fulfill their potential. The two main contributors to this school of thought
Two proponents most noted for humanistic approaches to personality are Abraham Maslow and Carl Rogers. Both the Person-Centered Theory (Rogers) and the Hierarchy of Needs (Maslow) considered that humans ' true nature was good and that each has the potential for growth. A comparison of the two approaches demonstrates a compatibility between theory and practice. Furthermore, each approach focuses on individual choices and rejects the theory that biology will determine human potential.
Abraham Maslow was a man who contributed his time to understand a positive side of mental health. He studied about minds that bring people together and discovered how humans have needs and wants. Unlike others, he was interested in laboratory science and the experimental side as well. Maslow created his own hierarchy of basic needs which were psychological needs, safety and security, love and belonging and esteem needs. Psychologist all around the world look up to him as a great leader and psychologist (Boeree, 2006.)
One of the similarities of the theories, they both believed for someone to arrive at a particular place in life that certain criteria must be met before they have the capacity to develop, succeed, or become something in life. Also, another similarity is that both theories view people as focusing on suitable things rather than the bad, stressing on their inner qualities and natural ability to grow (Didius, 2014). Nevertheless, the both beliefs have differing opinions in self-actualization. The Maslow theory indicates one event that is followed by another event and can be only achieved if the levels beneath meet its conditions. While Roger’s theory the person-centered relates to therapeutic approach of people and tends to focus on the individual itself. Roger’s theory allows the individual to reflect on themselves, therefore being in a position to develop and improve on their